Travel industry will die if Covid-19 vaccination is mandatory for trips overseas, world tourism chief says. Digital ‘health passports’ would lessen the damage

So far no country has made Covid-19 vaccinations compulsory for travellers, but the travel industry is worried

Tech companies are rolling out various digital ‘health passports’ and systems to validate passengers’ health

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Will vaccinations become mandatory for air travel? No nation has confirmed this, but the travel industry is alarmed. Photo by Yawar Nazir/Getty Images

Published: 3:16pm, 18 Dec 2020Updated: 3:43pm, 18 Dec 2020

The roll out of vaccines against Covid-19 has intensified debate about whether they should be made mandatory, with the head of a major tourism lobby saying that doing so would cause irreparable harm to the struggling sector.

“I don’t think governments will require vaccination next year” for travel, Gloria Guevara, head of the World Travel and Tourism Council, said. “If they do that they will kill their sector.”

Those first in line to get the jabs include the elderly and vulnerable, who “are the last people who will travel”, she said. Instead, rules for virus testing before departure are likely to be bolstered.

Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Qantas Airways, ignited an industry-wide debate last month when he said proof of vaccination would be a condition for travellers entering or leaving Australia on the carrier’s planes. So far, no country has made inoculation compulsory or said it would be required for people crossing borders.

Gloria Guevara is president of the World Travel And Tourism Council. Photo: Europa Press via Getty Images

Airlines are among the hardest hit by the health crisis, with global airline lobby IATA forecasting combined losses of US$157 billion this year and next. When the broader tourism sector is added to the tally, the impact rises to US$3.8 trillion, Guevara said.

She was speaking at an event organised by the Common Trust Network, a Swiss non-profit backed by the World Economic Forum that is rolling out a digital health system called CommonPass, designed to certify test results, to minimise the risk of fraud.